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With Gavi’s new contract signing earlier this week, Barcelona took another big step towards securing the long-term future of the young core of their team, having already tied down the likes of Pedri, Ansu Fati and Ronald Araujo to new deals over the past year.
Another La Masia graduate who will likely be a part of this core group of rising stars in the future is midfielder Nico Gonzalez.
The 20-year-old youngster made his first-team debut last season, much like Gavi, but was unable to impose himself as a regular member of the side. Nico’s minutes, especially in the second half of the last season, came very sporadically.
And following the arrival of Franck Kessie, Barça’s inability to move on Frenkie de Jong and the club’s initial decision to hold on to Miralem Pjanic meant that Nico left the club on loan to join Valencia in order to get regular minutes under his belt.
While he might not be a part of the current Barcelona squad, SPORT reports that manager Xavi Hernandez still very much counts on the 20-year-old midfielder for the future.
Nico, after all, is tied down to a long-term contract with the Blaugrana that runs until the summer of 2026. At 20, he has his entire career in front of him and Xavi plans to make him a part of his plans along with the aforementioned quartet to build a successful team for the future.
Since joining Valencia, the 20-year-old has played five times under Gennaro Gattuso, even finding the back of the net on one occasion. Had he stayed put at Spotify Camp Nou, minutes would have been hard to come by for the young midfielder.
So, the loan move made sense for him to continue developing. And a season-long experience of regular football at this level will make him a better player when he returns to Barcelona in 2023.